Inflammatory pain: assist in healing by discouraging physical contact or movement, adaptive but still needs to be reducedNeuropathic: not protective, MALADAPTIVE, results from abnormal functioning of the nervous system. MUST BE TREATED!

Central nervous system moves to a new excitable state (change in processing)Altered neuroprocessing, lack of correlation between injury and pain

Where does all perception of pain occur?

BRAIN

2 examples of plasticity

Chronic painNeuropathic pain

What is chronic pain?

Pain that lasts beyond an expected normal physiological response to the noxious insult (beyond period of tissue healing, persists despite low levels of pathology that are insufficient to explain the presence / extent of pain)

How high a temperature before animal reacts- hot plate, tail flick (infrared heats), Hargreaves test (put the jacket thingy on a horse and wait to see skin twitch)

What would the characteristics of a perfect pain score be? (8)

Easy to applyObjectiveCovers frequency/intensity/quality/duration (sensory pain components)Reliable: intra-observer repeatability (same person should have same result before and after) & inter-observer reproducibility (2 people should get the same result)SensitiveSpecies-specificLanguage-specific(Breed specific)